


It's A Long Story

by cedalodon, UsaChan1997



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Meet-Cute, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22551427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedalodon/pseuds/cedalodon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsaChan1997/pseuds/UsaChan1997
Summary: Marianne Lenoir is drawn to the mysterious new guest at her parents' B&B. Who is this dashing young man? What is he hiding?
Relationships: Master Fu/Marianne Lenoir
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11
Collections: February 2020 - Character Appreciation





	It's A Long Story

The first time Marianne Lenoir caught a glimpse of Wang Fu, it was barely a glimpse at all. He arrived at her parents’ B&B on the outskirts of Paris in the middle of the night under a cloudless sky. Marianne should have been asleep, but when she heard the telltale twinkling of the bell on the front door, she was too curious not to take a peek.

He was a young man, probably somewhere around her age, with short black hair and tired eyes. He looked to be carrying his entire house on his back, and Marianne wondered how a person as lithe as he was could hold that much weight with ease. He wasn’t impolite, but he barely spoke a word and was quick to hurry to his room.

When he started up the stairs toward her vantage point, Marianne hastily slipped back into her room, hoping her parents hadn't noticed her spying on the guests again.

She couldn't help it, though. All these people were so interesting. There was this old Austrian fellow who was a collector of rare artifacts, an opera singer way past her prime with stories to sing, a journalist who had traveled the world and back, only to stop at this tiny place for a warm meal and light conversation.

So where did the newcomer fit in?

He was scheduled to stay for quite awhile, but even after settling in, he was elusive as when he first arrived. Marianne had managed to coax his name from her father’s lips, but without hard evidence of any other aspects of his life, Marianne found herself imagining a number of possibilities.

Could he be a salesman of some kind, toting his wares and surviving on his silver tongue? Maybe not, quiet as he was. An inventor or genius scientist, making new, world-altering discoveries? The most exciting possibility, Marianne thought, was that Wang Fu could be a super-spy, blending into his surroundings with the ease of a chameleon, a master of reconaissance. He was certainly dashing enough, mysterious enough. Thinking about such things made Marianne’s heart flutter the way it did when she read about daring adventurers. She had to know more.

So, she made it a point to be the one assigned to tidy his room, got up earlier than usual to help prepare breakfast. Before sunrise, she always found him perched at the balcony seat, gaze transfixed by the dusky countryside.

She noticed he didn’t much like bread-crusts, so one morning, she had the idea to serve his usual toast in the shape of a turtle. She figured he liked them since the bracelet he always wore around his wrist featured a shell design. That was the first time she saw him smile.

“Thank you,” he said, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “It’s very cute.”

Marianne felt as if she’d been struck. She had never felt so simultaneously nervous and giddy before. It was all she could do to hide her reddening face in her hands and scurry away.

After that, everything seemed to shine. As happy as she was, there was also a feeling of mounting frustration that she couldn’t be closer to him. She knew she was being nosy, that her infatuation was hopelessly one-sided, but when she saw that his door was slightly ajar one sunny afternoon, she pushed it open to peer inside before she could think any better of it.

M. Fu’s room was extremely neat. He’d been staying there for two weeks, but there wasn’t a personal item or an article of clothing out of place. Marianne’s attention fell to the only item that stood out, one she had never seen before while cleaning. An ornately-decorated box.

 _I really shouldn’t be in here_ , Marianne chided herself. But her curiosity was overpowering. Perhaps she was Pandora, bound to unleash a plague on the world, but she couldn’t stop her fingers from brushing over the box’s surface, from finding the mechanism to open it.

At first, looking at the box’s contents felt anticlimactic. It only seemed to contain jewelry--tiers and tiers of strange, colorful items. Marianne wondered if M. Fu secretly had eccentric tastes-- these were the sort of designs he favored? Was he a salesman after all? Or could these animal-themed trinkets be family heirlooms?

Though there were many different pieces of jewelry, Marianne was immediately drawn in by a pair of red-and-black polka-dotted earrings.

It was like they called out to her. Spoke to her. Summoned her.

It was like they were meant for her.

Marianne’s head jerked at the sound of ascending footsteps on the staircase. Fu was back.

Without thinking, she grabbed the earrings and slammed the box shut, fleeing his room and doing her best to remain calm as she passed him in the hallway. “Salut, Monsieur,” she piped. She wasn’t sure if Fu noticed that something was off, but something about his deep, searching gaze gave her the shivers. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

Marianne’s heart thundered in her chest. This was the first time she had entered a guest’s room without permission. And to steal something on top of that? It was so unlike her. She took a deep, calming breath. As long as no one found out it was all fine. She would give back the earrings before he noticed they were missing.

She knew she couldn’t take them back right away, since M. Fu was presumably still in there. So, she decided to wait in her room. It was small but cozy, barely able to fit her bed, a wardrobe and a stool. Best of all, it was safe from prying eyes.

Marianne sat down on the bed, taking care not to wrinkle her dress, and opened her palm. If she had time to kill, why not inspect the earrings?

They were beautiful. Red with five black dots on each stud--they reminded her of a ladybug’s wings. The light of the sun reflected on the bright red made them glitter like jewels. She briefly wondered how they'd look on her, and in the next moment she was unconsciously making her way over to the wardrobe, peering into her little mirror. She smiled at her own reflection before removing her crescent-moon studs and replacing them with the red ones.

Suddenly, the earrings flashed, emitting a bright pink light that formed into a ball and zipped in front of Marianne’s face, giving the young woman the scare of a lifetime. The ball dissolved, leaving behind a small, red… mouse?

Marianne blinked to get rid of the hallucination. Because that's what this was, right? It had to be. There's no way there was a mouse floating before her very eyes.

Then, the mouse talked. “Hello, Master, I am Tikki.”

Marianne screamed.

And M. Fu barged into the room.

"What is going on here?" M. Fu demanded as he stood in the doorway, eyes flicking from the terrified girl to the stupified supernatural creature.  
  
"Is this my new holder?" Tikki asked, eyeing Marianne curiously.

"What is that thing?" Marianne asked, pointing a finger at Tikki.

Tikki huffed. "I'm not a 'thing', I'm a kwami. Tikki, goddess of creation."

Marianne stared at Tikki. Tikki stared back. Fu decided it was time to intervene. He placed himself between the girl and the kwami, trying to keep his tone calm. "Marianne, dear, please give me back the earrings and forget this ever happened. I do not wish to cause you any trouble."

Marianne gaped at him in utter shock before rounding on him and jabbing a finger into his chest. "Who are you? What is that thing? (I'm not a 'thing'!) And what do you mean causing me trouble? Explain yourself!"

Fu looked her in the eyes for a long time, and Marianne felt as if her soul was revealed to him. Finally, after one last glance at Tikki, he nodded at her.

The 'kwami' sighed and flew toward Marianne's face, stopping right at the tip of her nose before declaring, "You owe me an apology." And then she sped off toward the door, pushing it closed and locking it with her magic.

"You may want to sit down, dear." Marianne turned around to find that M. Fu had taken a seat on her bed and was patting the spot beside him. "It is a long story, after all."

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was created for character appreciation month! If you'd like to participate, come join us in the [ Miraculous Fanfiction Discord ](https://discord.gg/Fe97RT)


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